During the Great War she served (from April 1916) with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) in France and Flanders. The FANY were originally set up with the rather romantic idea that horsewomen could ride out onto the battlefield and scoop up wounded soldiers and bring them back to safety. In practice they drove heavy motor ambulances.

Her medal index card indicates that she achieved the rank of sergeant.

His Majesty the KING has been pleased to approve of the award of the Military Medal to the under mentioned Ladies -for distinguished services in the Field, as recorded: —
Miss Sarah Bonnell, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Evelyn Gordon-Brown, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Aileen Maude Faulkner, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Evelyn Faulder, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry,
Miss Nellie Dewhurst, V.A.D., attd. First Aid Nursing Yeomanry.
For gallantry and conspicuous devotion to duty, when an ammunition dump had been set on fire by enemy bombs and the only available ambulance for the removal of wounded had been destroyed. These ladies subsequently arrived with three ambulances, and, despite the danger arising from various explosions, succeeded in removing all the wounded. Their conduct throughout was splendid. War Office, 8th July, 1918. (more…)

Eileen Mary Fell was a first cousin of my paternal grandmother, Marjorie Fell Faulder (née Lendrum). Her mother Elizabeth Fell was a sister of Eileen’s father Henry Fell.

Eileen was shown by Marjorie Fell Faulder (in her notes) to have married a Paul Cuthbert Petrie, but I could not find a reference to this marriage.

I could however find a reference to a marriage to a Steinthal – but not to his death.

It turns out that Paul Steinthal had changed his name during WW1 to Petrie (his mother’s maiden name).

Searching through on-line sources such as the London Gazette and the London Times plus being provided with photographs of a family memorial helped identify Eileen’s descendants and their immediate cousins.